


Eight Petals of Love

by GreatNut



Series: Lightning, Blood, Fangs, Water and Fire [1]
Category: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Video Game)
Genre: Dark, Drama & Romance, F/M, Forbidden Love, Sad, Secret Identity, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21637117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreatNut/pseuds/GreatNut
Summary: War never is not accompanied by love and a touch of dramatic romance. Nor is romance ever without it's fair share of wars in it. But when war and stagnation threaten to destroy and poison everything, there isn't much time for romance.
Relationships: Emma/Sekiro | Wolf, Genichiro Ashina/Original Character(s), Kuro | The Divine Heir/Divine Child of Rejuvenation
Series: Lightning, Blood, Fangs, Water and Fire [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559653
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Eight Petals of Love

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what I'm doing.

Their blades clashed in a beautiful spectacle of lightning and dust. A slight grunt from one side. A gentle hum from another. In a blur of motions, incomprihensible to the keen eye of even the likes of the Owl - they were at each other's throats, tangled, trapped. One movement and they would both be dead, though one would be only temporarily. The question was: who will make the first movement? Who will shed their blood first?

But what happened next was a third and unexpected answer: their lips touched instead. It wasn't furious, nor animilastic, but it still held a certain sort of passion, their hot and breathy make out. It was the heat coming from the hearts of two great warriors.

They were so different, yet so similar. Both the best of their kin, both to be remembered for centuries. Where he was a bit bruttish and impatient, she was graceful, elegant and _brimming_ with patience. She practically radiated it, while he - he was a crude. He had to _show_ what he was. He had to speak with the sword. 

Tomoe did not. She was a natural. In every way. Beauty, charm, social interactions, military control and swordfighting. He was only a natural in one thing - to never give up. To always keep pushing forward. That was the only specialty Isshin Ashina was given since birth. Everything else, all the techniques, all the tactics, all the friends and great rivals - he had earned them through sheer fucking work. Nothing else. That was the only way you could get to the top.

But here she stood, in all her blue-skinned grace and glory, miniture lightning storms accompanying her and her little master wherever they went. She made fighting seem so effortless, like it really was a simplistic dance and not a whole school to be studied and taught for decades. 

"Never thought you one to fall for a heretic" Tomoe whispered in the old Lord's ear. He looked at her longingly as she gave it a soft lick, while her hands were subtly trying to wrap around his body. But when she tried to throw him over her shoulder, he tripped her with his leg. Her yelp was no less enticing then the position she took when she landed on her back. Spine slightly arched inwards, legs spread ever so slightly and battle armor slowly falling off. But Isshin wanted it to fall faster - much faster.

He looked at her with the longing of ten lusty stallions, but made no move. She looked up at him, but didn't get up. She was chuckled a little, but the faint and sweet sound died off as she captured his focused gaze. She shuddered, knowing what lay in those black eyes of his. Toxic thoughts. Thoughts of intense and beastly love-making that would last for hours. Only once had she found him staring at her like that, but he'd probably had done it more times than she cared to guess. 

"Tomoe, I would like us to engage in a different kind of battle with you...Will you give my spear the honor of piercing your depths?" Isshin asked, unexpectadly polite, despite having the look of a uncivilized rapist in his eyes. Tomoe's normally cold blue cheeks, now burned bright red from the question. She didn't know how to answer. Should it be with words? With an action?

"Isshin...I..." she bit her lip, still unsure. Still hesitating.

On one hand, they couldn't. It was almost immoral and ill-mannered. She was a foreigner, both to his country and his kind. On the other, she was burning on the inside like Ashina will burn in several years. But her indecision reached the limit of Isshin's patience and just like in the heat of a battle against a worthy opponent, he failed to compose himself. 

He jumped on her like a Guardian Ape, taking a harsh hold of the straps on her armor and kimono and pulled them like a Chained Ogre. 

"Isshin, what the-?!"

"Hesitation is defeat, my dear Tomoe, and you're about to learn why!"

Clothes and armor was thrown, words were shouted, the sound of skin-to-skin echoed with a distinctive slick, moans and groans were let out and different smells and fluids flew into the air. Even when comitting the act of love-making, Isshin and Tomoe were still competing. 

* * *

It was in the heat of the moment, when their lips touched, when their mouths came close, when their eyes were caught like fish in the other's. Emma didn't know how it came to this. It was Sekiro's stubborness, damnit!

One moment, she was trying to tend to his wounds, see where the biggest wounds were, observe the damage and find a way to heal it. A slight argument over the shinobi's quiet stubborness later and Emma found herself laying on top of the shinobi, bodies pressed against each other. 

Both their forms were amongst the smallest in this country of exceedingly tall men and women. So right off the bat, there was a sense of immense closure and comfort between the two. However, the same cannot be said about the main points of contact. Their lips and their groin areas. 

This wasn't Emma's first kiss. She had kissed Lord Genichiro a few times when they were younger. But it was Wolf's and that threw the whole thing off balance. Emma tried to guide him, but the shinobi, stubborn as ever, inserted his own clumsy dominance over her mouth. In the end, she had to push him down with effort in order to take a breath.

"Master Wolf, please wait!"

"Enough waiting..." he muttered in that gravelly and determined voice of his, that got her breath shuddering and her knees weak with desire. He stood up, mouth open like a wolf, ready to devour her visceously, but she stopped him with the gentleness of a benevolent spirit. She smiled at him. Her expression confused the wolf a little. Was it a look of mischief, seduction, pity or kindness? Maybe all?

"Master Wolf, you didn't let me finish...Please wait...so I could show you how it's done properly."

His eyebrows furrowed and he seemed unsure, hesitating. 

"You have experience in these matters?"

Emma blushed, but giggled nonetheless.

"Well not exactly 'experience'. More like, a better understanding." 

"I see..."

Another giggle escaped Emma's throat and she slowly began to slide off her kimono. Her skin was soft and warm, and very sensitive to the cold breeze that passed in the room. She let out one soft moan, before her meshing her lips with her wolf's. Her hands snaked down to his groin area, brushing underneath the pants and to his manhood. That was all it took to put the great shinobi down on the ground and trap him in the palm of her hand. Figuratively and literally.

Oh, her cute little wolf. Scary in battle, but secretly a wimp in bed. Hey, maybe he will listen to her for a change. Hopefully their children won't be as stubborn as he is.

* * *

"S-Should I, though? She could take it the wrong way and think me a ruffian!" Kuro complained to one of the spirit monkeys in the Hall of Illusion. 

The monkey just stared at him, smiled widely in its typical monkey fashion and cackled in an 'encouraging' sort of way. 

"O-Okay, if you say so..."

It was at that very moment, that _she_ appeared. The Divine Child. She was as pretty as the young lord remembered her during their first meeting. Nothing much had changed about her, and Kuro was glad to the gods for that. She was perfect the way he remembered her. She saw him and her face beamed.

"Hello, Lord Kuro." she greeted him with a soft smile that melted Kuro's heart, "I was not aware you were to be a visitor of my friends' home?"

"O-Oh...I was just...asking for advice...Yeah..." he looked back to his newly made monkey friend, who cackled even louder than before, even clapping his hands. Whoever the monkey was before he became a failed Divine Child of Rejuvenation, he must've had a huge sense of humor, because Kuro's attempts to confess his affection for the Divine Child were always jeopardized by this particular monkey's pranks. 

This time however, Kuro came prepared. He had befriended the monkey, garnered his trust and blessing. The monkey was even giving him love advice, in his own weird monkey kind of way. 

The Divine Child, which Kuro liked to call 'Yuki' because of her icy magical tears, let out a mirtful laugh. The sound rippled through Kuro's heart harder than Genichiro's Black Mortal Blade did at Ashina's Fall. Well...he _thought_ he came prepared. 

For several long moments, Kuro just stood there, gazing at the love of his young life like she was an animal he was seeing for the first time. Yuki did not notice that little detail, instead stroding forward in a light-hearted fashion. She looked sideways, towards Kuro and smiled. 

"So, what kind of advice was Sochi giving you?"

"W-Well, he...um...ah...I wanted to know...if you would like to...um..."

His saving grace and soon-to-be doom came in the form of a swarm of spirit monkeys who, washed over the mouth of the Hall and greeted the Divine Child. 

"Hello everyone, it is always a pleasure to see you in such high spirits- Oh? What is, that?" 

Kuro followed her gaze and his jaw would've dropped to the floor if it could. He couldn't believe it. Held by the many hands of the monkeys, was a picture of himself and Yuki enveloped in a large pink heart with sakura petals falling around them. Their hands were wrapped around the other's, just like a married couple's. Most of all, the picture was made purely out of cooked rice and held by a wooden board. 

This was the present Kuro was planning to give Yuki as a surprise. The plan was to have Kuro take Yuki on a nice walk across the more secluded and Senpou-less parts of Mount Kongo, escort her back to her quarters and give her the picture. Yuki would be very impressed by his courting, they would fall in love and live together forever in eternal happiness. 

He heard someone laughing and lo and behold, it was Sochi. That damn monkey. Traitor!

"No! How did you even-?!"

"Oh my, this is..." she slowly turned towards him, "Lord Kuro was this your invention?"

"Y-Yes, please do not hold a grudge against me...I will have the Interior Ministry burn it if necessa-"

His words died in his throat, as he felt the tender body of Yuki wrap around him, enveloping him in a warm hug. 

"It's so beautiful!"

"O-Oh...You really do think so?"

"Yes!"

After some of the initial euphoria died out, Yuki took a step back and seemed to take some of Kuro's emberassment, as she began fiddling with her hair and biting her lip.

"I...I never knew I was so dear to your heart, Lord Kuro. You always seemed so distant whenever we talk. For a long time, I believed you weren't really enjoying my company."

Kuro's eyes widened and he frowned.

"What?! No!" in a brief moment of actual masculinity, Kuro took Yuki's hands into his own and came at a very close proximity to her, "Yuki, you are the person I care for the most! You are very dear to me, even a bit more than Wolf is! I would want nothing more in this world than to be in your company."

"Oh Kuro...That's...That's so sweet of you..." Yuki smiled, emberassed, flushed and dazzled by Kuro's unexpected romantic charm. Then sadness overtook her face once again, "But...I cannot be with you...For you want to travel and discover your destiny, but I already have found mine. To look after my friends and Kotaru. To protect them...like a sister...like a mother..."

Kuro too became sullen as his love. The gloomy atomsphere stayed for a good couple of seconds, until Sochi came near them, waved his hand to get the two's attention and began drawing something with a trail of apparation energy. When he was finished, Yuki and Kuro could see the picture of a Buddha Idol.

"A Buddha Idol? But why Sochi? Why would you show us this?" Yuki asked, failing to understand the message. But Kuro didn't. He knew exactly what Sochi was trying to tell him.

"A Buddha Idol! Of course! Wolf uses these so much to get around places!"

"Lord Kuro, I do not understand. What's the importance of this idol?"

"Yuki, I know how we can solve our predicament! I can have Wolf make one idol for the Hall and a personal one for me. Through the idols, I can travel to here whenever I want!"

Kuro laughed and hugged her tight. Yuki was still confused, but nonetheless shared his delight. It was the unexpected chaste kiss to her lips afterwards that completely caught froze her in time.

* * *

Genichiro always wore a frown on his face, and Kaguya just couldn't understand why that was. He had a comfy home, two of the Lone Shadows themselves as his private guards and most of all - he was alive.

During the final hours of the Ashina clan, a retainer of Genichiro, a female doctor, pleaded for negotiations. Though there were many disagreements and conflicts, which even led to a handful of fist fights, the lords of both sides eventually agreed for a peace treaty. The Interior Ministry claimed the Ashina land for its own, without having to slaughter all its people. 

The people of the Ashina clan would retain their privilages - they would just be serving a new master - her brother, Lord Taizai. 

One of the agreements was to have Genichiro marry someone of Taizai's family. With Kaguya being his only living sister and one of his most trusted retainers, Taizai found it suiting to have his biggest enemy marry her. 

The Ashina clan was not set fully ablaze. His people lived and even thrived whenever the ministry was successful. _He_ was not dead. He was healed from the curse of the Rejuvenating Sediment, thanks to Lady Emma. And now, he had a beautiful seventeen years old maiden for a wife.

Yet, despite all those boons, Genichiro would have preferred it if he was slain in battle. This was no way for the Ashina to meet their end. With their tails between their legs, heads hung low in front of thieving cowards like Taizai. _Assimilated_ into the filth of the enemy. 

And so, he answered the questions of his own dilemma. He was unsatisfied, because he was a failure, in every sense of the word. Had his grandfather and his mentor been able to see him now, they would've cursed him. The Ashina people are probably doing that each moment of their current lives. Understandable. They hadn't beheaded him yet. Tch...they were too kind.

His life was of no importance...theirs wasn't either...only the pride of their lands was...only _that_ would remain throughout the ages. But now...even that was squashed by the machinations of the ministry...

Genichiro couldn't hold a grudge against Emma, as much as he wanted to...Her proposed terms were at least sensical. But Taizai, _that bastard_ \- his demands were greedy. 

As for his wife...Genichiro didn't know what to think of her. He wanted nothing to do with the sister of the monster who completely destroyed Isshin's legacy. Everytime they happened to spend more than five minutes in the same room, Genichiro felt the burning need to go outside and refresh his mind, to keep his irrational anger at bay. 

In truth, he knew Kaguya wasn't to blame. He knew she only helped her brother as far as internal issues went. She had no hand in the decimation of the Ashina clan. Still, Genichiro was Genichiro and he stuck to his believes like a mushroom to a tree. 

Kaguya put effort into trying to befriend him or have their relationship fester into something more than just a political insurance. Though he would never say it to her, Genichiro admired that in her. Her persistence. Her passion to have things go steadily, like a river. It was not unusual for him to find her at the back of their little castle, staring at the moon or the gigantic waterfall of Mount Kagutsuchi, which glowed fire red at night. It was definetely a sight to behold, but it was also accompanied by the distant image of his old castle and that filled him with his usual mixture of negativism.

"Well, I have become exhausted from all the chore work I did with the servants. I'll be off to bed." she said, stroding towards her bedroom in an elegant fashion. Before she entered, she reluctantly turned around and looked at him. He tried to play oblivious, but it became evident she wouldn't enter unless she was given an answer. 

"I won't be joining you tonight, either." finally, he grumbled out. 

Genichiro refused to share Kaguya's bed and used a filthy excuse such as: "I don't want to catch a foreigner's disease." or "After-effects of the Rejuvenating Waters might affect you, too.". The truth was much more emberassing. 

Kaguya was extraordinary. If he bothered to, he could've written poems about her beauty. How her hair was white and fluffy as the winter snow that covered the fields. How her face would radiate like the moon whenever she was genuinely happy. How her plump lips had a natural blood red hue to them. How her skin was so pale, yet so warm to the touch(he had touched her hands during the wedding ceremony, but almost never after that). How her breasts were not too big, too sagged, too firm or too small. _Not perfect either_ , but still good enough to be glorified. How her legs, _oh those legs_ , could stretch for miles.

If he slept in the same bed with her, he was afraid his own primal instincts as a man could overwhelm him and make him loose control of his actions. He had made a promise to himself upon marrying this girl, that he would leave no filthy hybrid heirs behind. The name 'Ashina' wouldn't be stained by the filth of the Interior Ministry any further. 

And yet...did that matter? Even if he held true to his grandfather's pride till his last days, that doesn't mean the people will do the same. Eventually, boys and girls of the Ashina clan will grow up and marry the offsprings of the ministry's lords. His clan's accimilation was inevitable. But his pride as the grandson of the Sword Saint, would remain...right?

That night, he had a dream. He talked to his grandfather, who was supposed to be dead. Isshin told him some weird things. He told him...to forget about the 'Ashina pride' and just enjoy the rest of his life. He told him to let go of past grudges and indulge in wine and his new wife's nether regions. Finally, he finished with a stern:

"That's an order boy! And if you don't grow out of the burdened lord you now aren't, then..." Isshin's face and voice softened to a tone unfamiliar to Genichiro. "then, will I truly be disappointed in you. Take care, my grandchild."

That morning, he woke up with wet eyes and in his wife's lap. He had cried while dreaming and worst of all - Kaguya, the sister of that monster, had seen him and tried to comfort him. Unbelievable...Just as what Dream-Isshin had told him. And yet, he remained in her lap until she too woke up. She was so warm and comfortable to lay on...

**Author's Note:**

> Still got no clue what I'm doing. I think I smoked too much weed yesterday...Nah!


End file.
